Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Someone is out there, but I don’t know who he is, what he does, or how he does it. All I know is that he wants to bring Richie down. Which is a good thing, though I am confused as to how he did it. The only way to leak that information is by getting the original receipt of Richie’s transaction with the drug dealer which is highly impossible because all important receipts are either kept in Richie’s office cabinet or the study room. And there isn’t a chance that a random stranger walked into the study room and took an important receipt without being caught. So it’s gotta be the office, well, whoever it is has access to Richie’s cabin door.

I have been pacing around the room for over two minutes trying to put two in two together. It doesn’t make much sense that someone took the receipt from the office and even if it’s possible then who could it be? And how? Richie is the only one that has the keys to every cabinet with important documents. How could someone just get the receipts out of it?

So many thoughts poured into my brain like a tidal wave and I grunt falling back onto the bed. I think about it over and over again but I don’t seem to find a suitable conclusion. I sigh, why is this so difficult to understand? I can’t figure out who could be behind this. At first, I thought the Russians are behind this but after thinking it through, I realize it can’t be them. They don’t have access to things like this, it can’t be possible that they came into the office and took the receipt without anyone knowing.

I roll over to pick up my phone. The first thing I see is a notification from the New York Times newspaper saying that Richie Moranzino has been found guilty of selling illegal drugs and weapons to the state.

I groan, this is the tenth time I’m reading something like this. I think this news is on every newspaper and Tv channel. I enter my Twitter app and came across so many tweets about Richie. Some were siding with him saying that it was a false accusation while some claimed that Richie needs to be investigated and interrogated by special forces. So many people tweeted horrible things about Richie.

I am supposed to be happy about Richie's downfall but I’m not. Whoever is behind this stole my thunder, I’m meant to be the one ruining Richie, not someone else. Though, I don’t have any complaints, it’s not easy to hold back anger and I respect his actions.

The fact that this mysterious person is a step ahead of me is very concerning. I mean what if he finds out who I am and decides to tell Richie?

The thought of that makes my heart thud in my chest. I immediately wave off the unsettling feeling. I don’t think the mystery guy will do that, if he truly hates Richie he wouldn’t help him, instead he will let me do whatever I want. I hope so.

A knock at the door pulls me back to reality. I sit up and call out "Come in."

The door pushes open and one of the maids comes into the room. She looks young, maybe a little older than I am. Her blonde hair is tied back into a bun and she wore a uniform dress shorter than any maid I’d seen. I guess she’s new here.

"Miss Rachel." She says, her gaze facing the ground

"Yes," I respond

"Dinner is ready."

"Okay, I will be down in a minute," I tell her. She nods and heads out of the room.

Before I go downstairs, I step into the room balcony to call Richie. As I expected, he is on call, and as usual, he sounds very serious; he is speaking in the Italian language.

"Richie," I say approaching him. He turns to look at me, a small smile gracing his face "Make sure you do as I say." He says to the person on the other line before he hung up the call.

"Rach," Richie greets before looking back at his phone. I guess he’s doing something about it.

"How's everything going?" I ask.

His heavy sigh signals that things aren’t going the best that they could. His answer also being "Pretty good," Makes it pretty obvious as well.

"Ohh." That is all I could say

"But don’t worry, I’m handling things." He assures placing his hand on my shoulder

"Okay, well dinner is ready so we should head downstairs," I tell him

"Okay, you should go. I will meet you down in a minute."

"Okay," I say before turning around to head out of the room.

I went downstairs and into the dining room where John, Alice, Emily, and everyone else were. I am surprised that Papa is also there, he never eats dinner with us. I wonder why he decided to eat dinner with us tonight. The sound of my heel pulls everyone’s attention to me except for Papa. He didn’t bother sparing a glance at me. Emily glances at me she makes sure she rolls her eyes before looking back at her food. I take a seat next to Emma, she smiles at me excitedly but didn’t say a word. I smile back at her. I haven’t seen Emma since I got back from Hawaii, I think that’s why she’s excited to see me again.

The maid that called me down for dinner walks over to me and serves mashed potatoes, grilled chicken, and a side salad. I take a look at her name tag; her name is Anna. Anna asks me if I need anything else and I shake my head before she walks back and stands where the other maids are. As usual, the only sound heard in the room is the noise from our forks and knives.

Not quite long after I began eating, Emma calls Anna back and ask her for something. I couldn’t hear what Emma was saying because my concentration is only on my food. Though while Emma was speaking to Anna I noticed how Emily was staring at Anna disgustedly. As Anna turns to leave, Emily calls her name making her turn to look at her, expectedly. "Yes Miss Emily"

"What are wearing?" Emily asks furrowing her eyebrows.

"Ma’am-" Before Anna could say any more words Emily raise her hand indicating for Anna to stop talking.

"Get a longer dress or you’ll be fired," Emily says and waves her hands dismissively.

I don’t bother to say a word because it’s none of my business, though Emily isn’t supposed to threaten Anna with her job.

I continue eating when I suddenly hear fast footsteps, I turn my gaze to the direction and I see Richie rushing down the stairs. "Turn on the news channel." He orders the maids as he rushes down the stairs.

"What’s wrong Richie?" Amelia asks, concerned

Richie didn’t respond to her probably because he is tense. Grace turns on the news and we all stare at the Television. My eyes widen when I read the headlines; it says that Richie Moranzino is helping a certain group of terrorists by supplying weapons to them.

"What!" I gasp. I had no idea when I did that.

"What the hell is this!" Emily said looking between the new channel and Richie

"That’s nothing, wait till you see this." Richie takes the remote and changes the channel. On the next channel are some journalists making up false stories about Richie, they say that he import and export drugs around Europe. The worst part of the news is that they are filming right outside our house and they claim not to leave until Richie answers their questions.

"Are you gonna meet them or what?" Emily ask

"He’s not!" Papa speaks before Richie could "Call the cops and get them out of there!" He says and walks out of the room.

Richie nods and steps away to make the call. I continue watching the news, I still can’t believe all this is happening and the impressive part about this is that it’s happening in one day. A smile begins to appear on my lips but I immediately wave it off, I can’t be caught smiling. Whoever is doing this is very good at his job and I think I’m starting to like that person.

Mystery man, I can’t wait to see your next move.